I think it should have been defined a long time ago if it was such a concern. If every other POTUS has done it at any recess..my question is why now? Because it is Obama?

If it becomes defined then I would expect Obama and any future Pres. to abide by that ruling. Since it hasn't been defined it should only apply going forward.

Except that he didn't do it during a recess. And no other President has done it the way he did.

In the court's opinion, the only recess that counts is the official and formal recess declared at the end of every congressional session?not summer break or spring break or Christmas break or all the other breaks the Congress has during the year. The last one--that, the judges declared, is "THE recess." And that's all that matters:

At the time, the Senate was not officially in recess, meeting every few days for minutes at a time but accomplishing no work and with few senators present. Meanwhile, Obama's nominees remained on the Senate's calendar, blocked by Republicans from up or down votes on their confirmation.

" President Obama, like presidents for 150 years before him, claims that any time the Senate has stopped conducting business for more than just a few days—that's a recess.

Once again: This is not something President Obama invented. Modern presidents have long used this weapon in their never-ending struggles with Congress.

President Bush made 29 recess appointments when the Senate was adjourned for 14 days or less—including John Bolton, the controversial US Ambassador to the United Nations, who was blocked by Senate Democrats. ("It's the wrong thing to do," said then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., about Bush's move. Things always look a lot different from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.) 0"

" President Obama, like presidents for 150 years before him, claims that any time the Senate has stopped conducting business for more than just a few days—that's a recess.

Once again: This is not something President Obama invented. Modern presidents have long used this weapon in their never-ending struggles with Congress.

President Bush made 29 recess appointments when the Senate was adjourned for 14 days or less—including John Bolton, the controversial US Ambassador to the United Nations, who was blocked by Senate Democrats. ("It's the wrong thing to do," said then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., about Bush's move. Things always look a lot different from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.) 0"

Same article. I don't need to link it for a 3rd time.

Except the Senate was purposely still meeting so they wouldn't be in recess. I already posted that article.

Holy crud. I recognize the court disagrees. When did I say they didn't? However, this needs to be defined legally before we start with the "ZOMG look at Obama!" when every other POTUS has done the same.

Holy crud. I recognize the court disagrees. When did I say they didn't? However, this needs to be defined legally before we start with the "ZOMG look at Obama!" when every other POTUS has done the same.

But they haven't done the same. He is the only one who has done it while they were still meeting. Regardless if it was a skeleton crew it still counts as a meeting. It might not seem like a big difference to you but legally there is a difference.

Update: Another court has ruled Obama's recess appointments are invalid.

A national labor board which has long been accused of making union-friendly decisions was dealt another blow Thursday, after a second federal appeals court found President Obama exceeded his power when he bypassed the Senate to appoint its members.

The ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia once again threatened to upend the National Labor Relations Board's decisions. And it has the potential to stall the board entirely, as well as challenge other federal agencies that have similar appointees.

For now, the Obama administration has tried to disregard the court decisions -- it has already appealed a similar ruling, from a Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to the Supreme Court.

In the 2-1 decision from the Philadelphia court, judges said Obama had no constitutional authority to install attorney Craig Becker to the labor board in 2010 while the Senate was adjourned for two weeks.

This is what's known as a recess appointment. But the court said that under the Constitution recess appointments can be made only between sessions of the Senate, not any time the Senate is away on a break.

"If the Senate refused to confirm a president's nominees, then the president could circumvent the Senate's constitutional role simply by waiting until senators go home for the evening," Judge D. Brooks Smith wrote in a 102-page decision.